Hanlin

"Minister Wang, I shall issue an edict at once granting you and the Wen family's young lady a marriage. May you be of one heart and mind, and never part until your hair turns white."

Wang He rose slowly, walked to the middle of the aisle, and knelt before the Yongzhao Emperor.

All the ministers assumed he had gone to give thanks, but Wen Hong suddenly frowned, vaguely uneasy.

Then Wang He said, "Your Majesty's grant of marriage moves this subject to the depths of his heart. However, before Your Majesty, this subject dares not deceive the sovereign."

Zhao Huiluan, who had been happily eating pastries with her younger brother, could not help stopping to look toward the aisle.

Wang He said earnestly, "This subject already has a wife at home and is truly unfit to be a match for the Wen family's young lady."

The Yongzhao Emperor fell silent.

Zhao Huiluan glanced at the flowerbeds in the distance, then lowered her head and resumed happily nibbling pastries with her brother.

Wen Nihe was both angry and aggrieved, and her eyes had reddened with anger. None of the ladies from the various households dared speak to her.

"Your devotion to your wife is rare indeed, Minister."

He made no further mention of the marriage grant.

"I am tired. Let us end here for today."

"Farewell, Your Majesty!"

After the Yongzhao Emperor left, the court officials departed first, crowding around a grim-faced Wen Hong. Only then did the successful candidates begin to leave.

Zhao Huiluan summoned a palace maid and sent her to Jinming Pool to announce the end of the banquet.

The little crown prince clung to her and pulled her toward the seats of the top three candidates.

Remembering how rash she had been, Zhao Huiluan suddenly felt as though her feet weighed a thousand jin. Then she thought that words once spoken were like water spilled, impossible to gather back, and felt somewhat more at ease.

Rong An had not yet left and was exchanging pleasantries with several of his fellow examination graduates. When they saw the siblings approach, they all greeted them respectfully.

"Minister Rong."

The little crown prince spoke frankly. "I like your poetry very much. Can you teach me to write poems?"

Rong An lowered his eyes and bent his head to speak to the little crown prince.

He looked rather like he had in her previous life, when he had bid her farewell.

Respectful, yet distant.

Zhao Huiluan walked a few steps to the side, casually pulled off a sheet of xuan paper, folded it quickly several times, and tucked it into her sleeve.

She thought no one had noticed what she had done, but when she looked up, Wang He was standing not far away, a trace of surprise in his calm eyes.

Zhao Huiluan met his gaze openly, and Wang He raised his hands and bowed respectfully to her.

She had not expected that, when she turned around, several pairs of eyes would be staring straight at her.

"Sister, why did you steal the third-place scholar's poem?"

Zhao Huiluan was mortified and shot a glare at her brother for exposing her.

"No! I..."

Zhao Huiluan looked at Rong An, intending to explain, only to discover to her surprise that there was a trace of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

It was very faint, but seeing it, Zhao Huiluan somehow wanted to smile too, and could not keep the corners of her own mouth from turning up.

The more she tried not to smile, the less she could control it.

She simply raised a hand to cover her eyes, stamped her foot, and muttered a sentence.

"I'm leaving!"

She sounded rather angry from embarrassment.

The little crown prince scratched behind his ear, not understanding, then hurried after her on his short little legs.

"Sister, wait for me!"

"Zhao Jin'ang, I don't want to talk to you today."

"Sister! Sister!"

The others remained where they were, looking at one another. Then they discussed going to Between Water and Clouds for a drink and asked Rong An, whose head was lowered, making his expression impossible to see.

"I still have important business, so I shall not join you, fellow graduates."

"Farewell."

Rong An concealed every trace of expression, his face as serene as a clear breeze and a bright moon.

He had not gone far when snide remarks came from behind him.

"Brother Liangxu is different from the rest of us. He has won the princess's favor, and in the future he will rise straight to the clouds."

Chapter 17: Hanlin

When Zhao Huiluan returned to Jade Balance Palace, Shen Zhiyun was lying beneath the wisteria arbor, already growing drowsy from waiting.

"The poem you wanted!"

She tossed the manuscript onto Shen Zhiyun and headed for her own room like a gust of wind.

Shen Zhiyun felt for the paper, unfolded it, and held it before her eyes. She was so startled that she immediately sat up.

"Alone in Yan Capital, a stranger far from home,

Too idle to seek plum blossoms or confide in the pines' roar.

All sound dies; one hue summons the wind,

As if a cloud of stars had fallen from the ninth heaven."

"What he wrote about wasn't snow falling from the sky, but snow piled upon the roaring pines! The wild wind rises, the snow falls, and it truly is like a cloud of stars falling from the ninth heaven. Wonderful!"

Behind her came the sound of Shen Zhiyun slapping her thigh and praising it as marvelous. Zhao Huiluan was in no mood to listen and said to Xichun, "I want to bathe."

Steam curled above the bath, hazing the young woman's face and lending it a faint pink glow.

Zhao Huiluan rested against the edge of the pool with her eyes closed while Lianqiu told her that the Wen family's young lady's eyes had been red from crying when she left.

A smile played at her lips, but she said nothing.

Wen Nihe had always been proud and arrogant. When Rong An was sent away to an outside post in their previous life, she had presumably done her share of adding fuel and vinegar before that old scoundrel Wen Hong.

And this time, the man she wanted to marry had been snatched away, while the man she did not want to marry had rejected the match in public. She would probably find it even harder to accept!

"Jianjian, you still haven't given me the first-place scholar's poem!"

Outside the room, Shen Zhiyun pounded on the door and called to her.

She opened her eyes helplessly, stared at the door, and said with a teasing smile, "You fool!"

Xichun and Lianqiu helped her out of the bath and into a loose outer robe.

She raised a hand and pulled out the jade hairpin holding up her hair. Her long hair spilled down like a waterfall as she walked out of the bathing room in wooden clogs.

Shen Zhiyun held out her palm to her.

Zhao Huiluan smacked Shen Zhiyun's palm and teased her, "Wanwan, oh, Wanwan, you aren't gentle in the least."

"Everyone thinks the foremost talented woman in Yan Capital is as quiet and gentle as Consort Jing. Little do they know what you're like in private."

Shen Zhiyun paid it no mind. "Who says a talented woman has to be refined and demure? Besides, I've never called myself a talented woman."

She followed Zhao Huiluan to the dressing table and held out her hand again for the poem.

"I don't have it."

"Oh, stop it! I saw you take it!"

Her eyes turned, and Shen Zhiyun leaned over the dressing table with a grin.

"Your Highness, you haven't really taken a fancy to that first-place scholar, have you?"

"I thought at first you were just trying to anger Wen Nihe!"